Most present-day containers that are not bottles, but which contain beverages such as soft drinks and beer, have end walls with closures that are openable by manipulation of a pivotable tab attached to the container end wall or the closure or both. Such containers or "cans," as they often are called, are usually manufactured to be opened by a consumer using the natural wedge of his or her finger. Initially, the consumer's fingernail is to be inserted between the tab and the end wall of the can; then the fleshy tip of the finger is to follow; finally, when the tab has pivoted enough to accommodate the end of the finger to the distal joint, the finger is to exert sufficient leverage to lift the tab to the disposition in which the end closure is opened.
What manufacturers of tab-top containers had contemplated as a relatively simple and routine task has commonly been problematic. Broken fingernails have resulted from the step of inserting fingernails; cut flesh has often resulted from the step of pressing against the tab with the fleshy part of the finger; and the step of lifting a tab with the end of the finger has often proven virtually impossible for consumers of less than average dexterity, including children, the aged, and the arthritic.